Xarak/Exaltation

Here are some thoughts on what Exaltation, Terrestrial and Celestial, actually is, what it involves, and how it could be manipulated. I don't know if this contradicts any canonical material - I don't think it does, but I haven't read that many of the Exalted books. Could any let me know if canon says anything explicitly about this?

This is very much unfinished.

Please comment! ^_^

Mortals

This is an alternative to canon. I think it's closer to what the designers originally envisioned before the Player's Guide and so on. I like the Player's Guide rules, but this is an alternative for the purists.

No human except the Exalted can sense and channel Essence. Awakened Essence and simelar merits simply don't exist. The mortal mind was not designed to be able to wield magic, in fact it was specifically designed not to be able to, to avoid a mortal rebellion. The Celestines found a way of getting around this, but it required them to siphon off some of their own power to do so. Simply being the son of a Solar or hanging out in the Wyld for a bit doesn't cut it.

Mortals can use thaumaturgy, but this is a weak immitation of the might of the Exalted. A good analogy would be mathematics - Exalted understand the mathematics of Creation, and can multiply, divide, and add according to the rules of arithemetic. Mortals simply don't get it. They can learn, off by heart, that "2 + 2 = 4" or "3 x 4 = 12", but they don't understand why. Hence, it takes a mortal years to learn to achieve the sort of tricks that a Dragon Blood could perform the day after they Exalted. Even the greatest mortal wizard would probably lose against a young Terrestrial in single combat.

Bargains with supernatural beings, the use of magical drugs, and so forth, can allow the mortal to achieve temporary Essence-awareness, but this invariably leads to madness and dementia pretty quickly because, not being truly attuned to Essence like the Exalted, this is staring into an alien abyss. Mechanically, once a mortal has spent motes of Essence equal to their permanent Willpower, even if this is spread over a long time, they lose 1 permanent Willpower and also lose 1 from a social or mental Attribute. Then once they spend some more motes this happens again...and so on.

The Nature of Exaltation

Fundamentally, and unusually, the human soul is a closed system. The spirits of almost every other being ( except the dumb animals, which have no true souls anyway ) were created to be open to, and in harmony with, the Essence of the world, to allow them to control it in the manner appropriate to their purpose. However, the creators forsaw the possibilty of the rebellion of their servants and ensured that their most numerous workers/playthings were not able to channel Essence. Hopelessly restricted to the limitations of flesh and bone, man would never be able to challenge his masters, never able to rise above his low station.

The human soul, say those few who have ever seen it in its naked state, unbound by flesh or the deathly covering of a ghost-body, is a strangely unimpressive thing. A swirling droplet of fate, Essence, and gossamer, it looks like nothing so much as an amorphous, colorless blob, its internal structure impossibly complex and constantly in violent flux. The spirits of other beings are surrounded by a "halo", a network of Essence which connects them to the world. But man is cut off, the barrier between inner and outer worlds being breached only by the crude nerves and senses of the body.

At the moment of Exaltation, everything changes. The Celestial Shard, or Terrestrial Essence, envelops the host's soul, surrounding it and bonding to it like a bird closing its wings around its young. This cloak of divinity connects the host to the world in a radically new way - no longer alien to the flow of Essence, they gain the ability to sense and manipulate it as the once could only manipulate their own bodys.

At first, the Exalt is unable to use the full extent of their new-found power. It takes centuries of experience for a mortal to become one with their own essence, but theoretically, there is nothing to stop them achieving the same level of mastery over reality as the greatest of the gods.

When Exaltation Goes Bad

Exaltation doesn't always go according to plan. Although it's extremely rare, it can go awry.

The most common condition is simply the death of the host during Exaltation. This happens more often than is recognized, because it's entirely possible that no-one will ever work out what happened to the person who is found dead of no apparant cause. Those in the know have calculated that about 1 in 1000 Terrestrial Exaltations, and 1 in 100 Celestial ones, result in the sudden death of the subject. This is due to a clash between the soul of the host and the influx of Essence. It's more likely to occur in those with "the wrong kind of magic in their blood" - mortal Dynasts have an increased chance of dying during Solar Exaltation, for example. Nevertheless, the risk is always very small.

More disturbing is the phenomena of "Cracked Essence". Very rarely, the Essence of the Exalt bonds incompletely with the host's soul, leading to a state in which the Exalt is unable to reliably access their powers. These unfortunates alternate between Exaltation and mundanity on an unpredictable cycle. Anathema suffering from this condition very rarely survive for long; Sidereals are swiftly treated by their Elders; Dragon-Blooded are ostracized and many flee the Realm to make their way away from the others of their kind.

Cracked Essence - 10 point flaw
The character, who must be an Exalt, suffers from a major flaw in their Exaltation. Their powers wax and wane unpredictably. At the start of each day, or at the initiation of any stressful encounter, they must roll their Essence. Their score is their effective Essence for that day ( with a minimum of 1, can't exceed their maximium! ). If their Essence is 1, they immediately lose all their attunements. In addition, every time the Exalt spends any motes of essence, they must roll an Essence check. If they fail, their anima immediately bursts forth to the iconic level. This flaw can be cured, but this requires the ministry of someone with at least Medicine 6 and Lore 6, and the expenditure of 10 xp.

In addition, some individual Celestial Shards are simply...broken. The history of these flawed Sparks is often long and colorful, but despite Lytek's best efforts, they remain in circulation. None of them are so corrupted as to be unusuable, although if Lytek knew all the secrets of some of them, he might think again about that...

"Perpetual Dusk"
This is a Solar Twilight shard named after its most infamous inheritor, a mighty sorcerer-scientist who died during the Usurption. Although noticably less debauched than his fellow Solars, this was not due to any moral scruples on his part but simply because he realized that such indulgence was not constuctive to power. Dusk lusted after power, he craved every drop of it, and once his researches had brought him enough power to do so, he began to experiment on his own Essence.
Exposing himself to Wyld radiation, his own powerful Demense, innumerably drugs and diseases, and performing insane surgery and self-mutilation, he began to get results. Many of the Sidereals were deeply troubled by his increasingly bold attempts to reshape his own Shard and eventually, when the Usurption came, Dusk was the first Solar to fall, slain by an elite assassin before he knew what was happening. Unfortunately, his meddling had permanently warped his Spark...
The Twilight who inherits this Spark will find himself with a prodigal talent for spellcasting - all sorcery and necromancy spells cost 10% less motes of Essence to use. In addition, he can learn necromancy as easily as sorcery, even to the Void circle. This power comes at a heavy cost - each time he casts a spell, he gains a point of Limit.

"Mad Gods Eye"
This is a Lunar Shard. All of Luna's Shards were warped by the continued influnce of the Wyld, but this Shard suffered more than most. This happened during the Usurption. A female Lunar and her Solar mate fled the Dragon Blooded armys and journeyed deep into the Wyld. Led astray by Raksha trickery, they found themselves unable to return to Creation and went deeper and deeper. The Solar died in the Deep Wyld, Essence exhausted and unable to resist the power of chaos. The Lunar was more resilient, and wandered on and on, mad with grief, wreaking havoc on the Fair Folk, before eventually taking one step too far in the wrong direction and entering the true chaos of the outer reaches. She was never seen again.
Her Spark returned to Yu-Shuan several weeks later, warped almost beyond recognition. The silver light of Luna still shone, but it was mixed up with a sickly green taint. Lytek was unable to repair the damage, but decided to see what effects the mutation had caused, and sent the Shard to bond to a mortal. He Exalted as a Lunar - and immediately began to feed upon the Virtues of his family and village. Somehow, a mighty Raksha had become trapped within the Shard, and had usurped the mind of his human host. This terrible Raksha-Lunar proceeded to cause great destruction before being brought down by a Sidereal death squad. However, his Shard did not return to Yu-Shuan. It fled into the Wyld, and its current location is unknown.

Celestial Exaltation

Celestial Exalts are chosen. Originally, the choice was made personally by the patron Celestine of each lineage. Nowadays, this work is delegated to Lytek, God of Exaltation, under the advisement of the Sidereals, but what happens is otherwise the same as it has ever been. A Celestial Spark ( or Shard ), a small but perfect replica of the Essence of the original deity, is fused to the body and soul of the chosen mortal.

When not bonded to a host, a Celestial Spark appears as a perfect sphere of energy, about the size of a man's head. Solar sparks are like miniature suns, burning with a fierce golden radiance; those corrupted by the Malfeans to become Abyssal shards are utterly black, and suck light out of the surrounding area. Luna's vessels glow silvery-white and, depending upon the phase of the moon, range from subdued to brilliant, while those of the Maidens shine serenely in the appropriate color. Each and every spark is different - the patterns of scintillating brightness can be used to identify the caste of a shard and tell any two apart. (Perception + Occult, Difficult 3). When in Creation, a Spark is always dematerialized.

The natural behavior of a Shard is to return to its home. For most, this is the Ivory Cathederal in Yu-Shuan, but Abyssal sparks are bound to return to the Monstrance of Celestial Portion owned by their Deathlord. When a Celestial Exalt dies, their shard is set free and immediately begins to seek its dwelling place. A Shard is almost unstoppable in its quest. It travels at around 1000 miles per hour, unerringly drawn towards the nearest Gateway to Yu-Shuan (or the nearest Shadowland). Any mundane objects or even Jade in the way are no barrier whatsoever  ; Orichalcum, Moonsilver, Soulsteel and Starmetal are impassable to Shards, but they will always find their way around such obstacles if possible and never go into dead ends. (The "Jade Prison", used to trap the Solar Sparks, was in fact lined with a spider web of Starmetal.)

Once it reaches home it floats in the air like a butterfly, allowing it to be easily caught within the Monstrance or one of the special wire cages used by Lytek. Selecting a new host is suprising easy. All that it requires is an object un-ambiguously linked to the chosen one - a lock of hair, a drop of blood, or a personal possession - which is cast into the heart of the Shard and obliterated. This attunes the Shard to the soul of the host and, if it is released, it will seek them unerringly. The soon-to-be Exalt is instinctively aware of the location of the Shard and has the ability to see it; many Celestials recall the feeling of impending awe which washed over them in the seconds before their Exaltation and the flash of light from the sky just before it happened.

The Spark plunges directly into its host's heart, instantly bonding with their soul, and causing their anima to explode into full iconic splendor. Any wounds he has suffered are fully healed, all diseases and poisons he is suffering from are cured and all fatigue is forgotten as his body is reinvigorated by the Essence washing over him; his temporary Willpower is fully restored as well. If the host should die before an attuned Spark reaches them, the Spark will immediately return home; however, it will not accept a new host for a year and day if this happens. It is said to be "in mourning".

A Shard is essentially inviolate and invulnerable. If it could somehow be forced into the Mouth of the Void it would be destroyed, but simply throwing an Exalt down there will not do this, because the Spark will forsake its host at the last second and escape. No being with an Essence of below 8 could hope to tamper with the nature of a Celestial Spark, and it is essentially immune to the effects of the Wyld and the hazards of Rakshastan - however, long-term exposure, or perhaps brief exposure to the pure chaos of the outer reaches, can warp a Shard - this has happened to the Lunars.

A Shard will only accept a mortal human host. This includes most God-blooded, but excludes Fae-blooded and Wyld mutants - except in the case of Lunar Shards. Perhaps their exposure to the Wyld has in some way attuned them to its mad nature.

Once bonded to a human, a Shard can only normally be removed by the death of the host. Theoretically, it would be possible to rip the Essence from an Exalt and leave them mortal again, but this would almost certainly kill them anyway, so there would be little point. It is, however, possible for an Exalt to willingly donate their gift to another human, via the Solar circle spell Phoenix Sacrifices Her Heart.

The Celestine responsible for each Shard is always aware of the location and status of each one. However, they have no direct control over them. Note that the patron deity of the Abyssal shards is still the Unconquored Sun, and the Malfeans and Deathlords do not have this connection to them.

Terrestrial Exaltation

The "Chosen" of the Dragons are not, in fact, chosen at all. The very first were, but today's Dragon Blooded owe their Exaltation to the action of the laws instituted all those years ago. Because the power of Terrestrial Exalation is much less than that of the Celestials, it was possible to make it inheritable.

The Dragon Blooded themselves know very little of the secrets of Terrestrial Exaltation. In the First Age it was common knowledge, and it is still known to a few elder Sidereals and gods, but those in the Realm today look upon the inheritance and development of their powers as an impenetrable mystery. The Immaculate Philosophy teaches that Exaltation is a manifestation of the spiritual development of a particularly virtuous soul, a reward for piety in past lives, but this is a lie.

In fact, the mechanism by which the power of the Dragons is transmitted from generation to generation is a rather simple one. Each and every Dragon Blood has, permeating every cell in their body but especially concentrated in their blood, a certain substance, condensed elemental Essence, called by those who know of it plasm. In its pure form, this plasm appears a little like molten Jade of the appropriate color, but is translucent and glows brightly. If all the plasm in the body of an adult Terrestrial were to be collected, it would amount to just a single drop.

When a Dragon Blood conceives a child, it will inherit an (unpredictable) amount of plasm from its parent. Two Terrestrials who sire a child together will lead to more plasm being passed on (on average), and some Dragon-Blooded simply play host to higher levels than others (these are considered to be "well-bred" by Realm society, and are highly regarded. The high levels of Essence in such individuals lead to elemental effects constantly surrounding them, such as swirling breezes or flowers growing out of their hair.)

As a Dragon-touched child grows, the plasm in her bloodstream slowly propagates, drawing Essence out of her surroundings and building up to higher and higher levels. Eventually, if she was graced with a high enough level of plasm at her conception, it reaches a critical level and becomes unstable, suddenly evaporating into a burst of Essence, which floods the adolescent Dragon Blood's body and soul. A Terrestrial Exalt then produces small amounts of plasm throughout the rest of their life, but the highest concentrations are always found just before the moment of Exaltation.

It is very difficult to predict whether or not a child will go on to Exalt. All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight or similar effects could be used to detect the plasm in their body, but it would require a Perception + Occult roll of Difficulty 4 to do so accurately ( Difficulty 2 in the days just before Exaltation. ) More importantly, it would require that the observer know what they were looking for, and this is not common knowlege today. Simply inspecting the child will only work if the observer is very experienced and perceptive. Some of the older teachers in the primary schools of the Realm get "hunches" about which children will go on to Exalt, which are often accurate; however, because most parents react rather badly to "false alarms", few of these sages tell anyone about it.

Which Aspect a Terrestrial is depends upon the predominant form of plasm in their body. Due to interbreeding, all Dragon-Blooded today carry various amounts of all five types of plasm. Two Fire Aspects have a good chance of being the parents of another Fire Aspect, but it is by no means certain, especially if their breeding is not so good. As a rule of thumb, a child that Exalts who has two parents of the same Aspect has a 1 in 3 chance of being the same Aspect.

The Dragon-Blooded bloodlines have become diluted since the First Age. Originally, the union of two Dragon Blooded would always produce a Terrestrial child, of a predictable Aspect. Even the best bred Dragon Bloods today are degenerate compared to those of days gone by, although by their own efforts they can become just as powerful.

Raw plasm is a very potent sorcerous reagent. If used to "fuel" sorcery, each drop of plasm used pays for 3 motes of the cost of the spell, or 6 motes if it is the appropriate Element for the spell in question.

The injection of plasm ( 10 drops ) into the body of a mortal, even of advanced age, could trigger a Terrestrial Exaltation, but it could also kill them. This is handled as an Intelligence + ( the lowest of Medicine and Lore ) roll. With 3 successes, the subject Exalts. With 2, the plasm is wasted, but the subject is unharmed. With 1, they suffer damage as the Essence rejects their body and combusts - 8A, soaked by Stamina. With 0 successes or a botch, they are killed.

Spells

Terrestrial Circle Spells

Dragon's Disfavor

Cost: 20 motes

This spell was used during First Age and Shogunate times as a punishment for wayward Terrestrial familys. Used on an infant before his fifth birthday, it purges his body of plasm, ensuring that he will never Exalt as a Dragon Blood. It has no effect on older individuals. Nowadays, this spell is more a dark rumour than an actual reality; few outside the staff of the Heptagram know how to cast it, and the Bronze Faction are careful to keep it that way. The fact that the Dragon Blooded are capable of using this spell means that it could become a major problem in the current political atmosphere of the Realm.
The spell takes one round to cast, after which the caster's hand is sheathed in dark mist. Touching the target's skin before the end of the scene triggers the spell.

Celestial Circle Spells

Distillation of Flesh and Blood

Cost: 40 motes

This abhorrent technique was developed by the most depraved of the Twilight Caste during the very end of the First Age. Some say that it contributed to the hatred of the Terrestrials for their Solar masters which caused the Usurpation.
By taking a living child whose Terrestrial Exaltation is imminent and submitting them to a horrific process involving various sorcerous reagents ( Resources *** ), it is possible to extract the elemental power coursing through their body and distill it off as pure plasm. Needless to say, this is fatal for the "raw materials". The process, which lasts a full six hours during which time the subject suffers greatly, is ended by the completion of this spell, which causes their body to crumble away to dust and a small quanity of pure plasm to condense in an Orichalcum ampoule ( which was hammered into their forehead earlier in the proceedings ). Depending upon the breeding of the child in question this yields between five and ten drops of plasm.
The caster must fail a Compassion check to consider going ahead with this barbaric procedure ( or pass a Conviction check if it's in a good cause, somehow ), unless they have been so warped by performing other atrocities that their hearts are already closed to the suffering of lesser beings.

Solar Circle Spells

Phoenix Sacrifices Her Heart

Cost: 50 motes

Celestial Exaltation is a gift beyond imagination, a gateway to infinite possibilities, near-immortality, and boundless power. Nevertheless, some choose to give their gift to another. This spell allows this to be achieved.
This spell allows a Celestial, who must be truly willing and not under any form of duress or coercion, to donate their Spark to another mortal. The donor may be, but does not have to be, the caster of this spell. The ritual involved is long and extremely complex, lasting for 7 days and 7 nights, during which the donor and recipient must consume nothing, remain awake, and talk to each other, revealing to each other the innermost secrets of their lives. No secret of any significance whatsoever must be left unrevealed, or the spell fails.
This must take place in the open air, within a circle formed of the appropriate magical material (Moonsilver for a lunar, etc.) which is powdered, melted down and poured into a circle etched into the ground to form a ritual space ( Resources **** ). At the end of the 7 days the caster, who must have been present throughout but, unless he is the donor, not have listened to the conversation, utters a single word. The Spark gently slips out of the donor and into the recipient, who immediately exalts. If the donor was beyond the age at which they would otherwise have died had they been mortal, they die peacefully seven minutes later.

Comments

(Immortality discussion folded, as I acted upon it)